Friday, March 31, 2017

THE WEEK OF MAR. 31-APRIL 6
Saturday is April Fool's Day. Sadly this first item isn't a prank. The city of Hayward is celebrating the life of labor leader Cesar Chavez at City Hall on Saturday morning. Aside from Chavez's inspiring accomplishments within the labor movement, the event should have additional importance in Hayward, which has the East Bay's largest concentration of Latinos.

Here's why the ghost of Cesar Chavez might be restless since the Hayward City Council, save one member who was not on the council at the time, voted to impose wage cuts on nearly 300 of its city workers three years ago. The decision, hotly-contested by SEIU Local 1021, was later deemed illegal by the state. Nevertheless, expect many councilmembers to be in attendance Saturday to laud Chavez. In addition, it's almost a certainty Chavez would not take kindly to Hayward's embarrassing foot-dragging recently when it comes to declaring sanctuary city status.

--Back to City Halls across the East Bay -- Here's the highlights:
➤The rent issue that significantly roiled Alameda politics last year returns to the forefront this week. While rent control died at the ballot, there's signs the issue fomented a rise in progressive values on the island.

➤How will federal dollars from HUD affect Meals on Wheels in San Leandro and other affordable housing projects?

➤Fremont begins its startlingly quick path toward entirely changing its the composition of its city council and how residents choose their public officials.

➤A special election starts in Hayward next week. (Ignore the fact that it will cost $600,000 to administer.)

➤Over in Sacramento, Assemblymember Bill Quirk goes to war against helium balloons, while Rob Bonta goes toe-to-toe with the for-profit prison lobby.

ALAMEDA -- City Council meeting, Tuesday, April 4, 7 p.m. -- It's been a bit over a year since Alameda approved its rent stabilization ordinance. On Tuesday, the Alameda City Council and the public get the chance to assess the ordinance that gave renters more protections than they previously had, but much less than activists wanted. [ENTIRE AGENDA HERE]

--The city's annual report compiled by the Housing Authority recommends modest changes to the ordinance, led by the creation of a database to record "unit information, inquiries, submissions and status of cases." It also recommends full staffing, that it be housed apart from the Alameda Housing Administration, and additional training for the existing Rent Review Advisory Commission regarding mediation and conflict resolution. Also, don't forget getting on the Twitter.

--A city staff report is more specific in its recommendations: closing loop holes for the percentage of total units that could possibly be evicted annually without cause. "Under the Ordinance, in a six-unit building, there can be two “no cause” terminations in a 12 month period. The revised formula would fix the math so that a six-unit building would be limited to one “no cause” termination in a 12-month period. This revision is consistent with the Council’s intent to minimize the number of no cause evictions."

--Regulations for fixed-rate leases were absent from the original ordinance. The proposed addition would provide an end-run for landlords seeking to circumvent payment of relocation fees.

--There will likely be more contentious changes sought Tuesday night by renters. The Alameda Renters Coalition wants provisions prohibiting no-cause evictions and seeks to eliminate the RRAC and replace it with a mediation officer. Landlords, meanwhile, want the city to respect the 55 percent of Alameda voters who supported the rent ordinance's ballot measure last November. In other words, don't change a thing.

--RON COWAN DAY--the Alameda developer of Harbor Bay Isle and local legend (the guy crashed five choppers and lived to talk about it and later dated I Dream of Jeanie's Barbara Eden), who passed away Jan. 11 gets his due.--HEALTHCARE DISTRICT OPENINGS-- Two seats on the Alameda Healthcare District Board of Directors opened up in late February following the resignations of Kathryn Saenz Duke and Jim Meyers. Applications for the appointments to the two-year short-term seat and four-year seat are due Friday, April 6, no later than 5 p.m. [MORE INFO HERE]

*****

SAN LEANDRO -- City Council meeting, Monday, April 3, 7 p.m. -- San Leandro's annual action plan for social services and affordable housing through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Alameda County is on the agenda.

--Under the draft HUD action plan, San Leandro estimates it will receive $650,261 in federal Community and Development Block Grants (CDBG), and $157,436 in Alameda County HOME Consortium grants used for housing opportunities for low to moderate income people. The entire HOME grant is earmarked for repayment of the city's loan to BRIDGE Housing for Phase 1 of the Marea Alta development near the San Leandro BART station for senior and affordable housing. [LINK TO ACTION. PLAN SPREADSHEET]

--One noteworthy entry in the HUD action plan is $26,591 set aside for Meals on Wheels, the popular social service to seniors potentially on the chopping block by the Trump Administration. [ENTIRE AGENDA HERE]

*****

FREMONT - City Council special work session and regular meeting, Tuesday, April 4, starting at 5:30 p.m. -- Tuesday's early work session is an update for Fremont's ambitious downtown Civic Center Master Plan that also includes a 175,000 square foot administrative building and 600-space parking structure. [ENTIRE REPORT HERE]

--Fremont's rush to avoid getting sued for violating the California Voting Rights Act continues Tuesday. On Mar. 21, the City Council quickly acquiesced to a letter from a Southern California attorney who claimed Fremont's at-large elections dilute the chances of Latinos to win seats on the council. Fremont's city attorney agreed, setting in motion the likelihood the five-member council will become seven and be chosen in district-based elections. But first, who will create the district maps and how will they be stocked?

*****

HAYWARD -- Ballots are coming! -- Hayward Unified School District's Measure A is a vote-by-mail-only affair that asks voters to approve an annual $88 parcel tax for the next 12 years. Ballots should begin arriving in mailboxes starting Monday. Voters have until May 2 to return the ballots, no postage required! The school district's measure is actually a renewal of the Measure G parcel tax. Proponents say proceeds from the parcel tax will go toward the classroom, not administration and salaries. Meanwhile, there's the cost of the special election coming just month's after the consolidated November election. There is no official opposition to the measure. [MORE INFO HERE]

--CANCELLED-- Hayward City Council's April 4 meeting is cancelled. The council returns Tuesday, April 11

OAKLAND -- City council meeting cancelled -- The Oakland City Council returns Tuesday, April 11, with a full slate of committee meetings. Thursday's Rules Committee is also on hiatus.

--"This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would create a blue ribbon commission that would study how the state can move toward ensuring health coverage for all Californians. create the 9-member Health Care for All Commission in the State Department of Health Care Services, for the purpose of investigating and making recommendations on improving health care access and affordability for all Californians."

--The release of mylar helium balloons is already against the law when it occurs during a public event, but Quirk's bill broadens it to include everyone else, including, well, you know, theoretically--you know where there is going--the little kid bawling on the street after "Let It Go," her Frozen balloon escaped into the ether.

--"The bill would transfer $100 million from the General Fund to the California School Employee Housing Assistance Fund, which this bill would create, and would appropriate those moneys to the agency for the purposes described above and to reimburse the agency and the State Department of Education for costs incurred in the administration of the program."

--Bonta AB 423(residential real property; rent control)-- "This bill, on and after January 1, 2018, would except from the Ellis Act residential hotels in the City of Oakland."

5 comments:

In regard to the second paragraph of this article, there are a lot of windbag and demagogue "liberal" politicians who pretend to be in favor of programs to help the poor, disenfranchised, ordinary workers, and middle class - and also undocumented aliens - but who also refuse to do anything about sleazy businessmen who engage in such activities as: one, wage theft; two, using undocumented aliens as a source of low cost slave labor; and three, exposing their employees, customers, and tenants to harmful and cancer causing hazardous materials that will cause slow mass murder.

And that is because most bigshot "liberal" politicians are actually just big sleazy windbags totally controlled by election campaign contributions and/or under the table bribes, and regardless of how much they pretend to be great liberals.

Or as a former co-worker of mine put it, "ACTORS WHO ARE NOT GOOD LOOKING ENUGH FOR HOLLYWOOD GO INTO POLITICS."

Don't forget, Hayward city council loves labor unions too. That's why they allowed Fran David to threaten city workers with layoffs and colluded with management violating labor law. Appealing the decision is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Costly and greedy mistake on council's part. They love Chavez and his principles, but not enough to support city workers or Hayward's own undocumented residents. City council gave it their all to oust Reynoso from the schoolboard and get their puppets elected "for the kids." As buffoon Salinas always says. Now they don't care about the kids or their families who are at risk of being deported. Hayward merchandises its diversity, but it does not defend it, celebrate it or fight for it. Not much heart left in the heart of the bay.

I am not voting for the Hayward school parcel tax. We are being punished with taxes in Hayward because we have a school board and city council, who can’t count, can’t balance the budget, over spends, and relies on the public to bail them out. Landlords will put this fee on their tenants. Rents will go up. I don’t get a raise ever year. It is getting where I can’t afford to live in Hayward. Because of X – Superintendent Stan Dobbs, the school district is $25 million over budget on the remolding. The board has hired a $2 thousand an hour teacher from San Diego, who helps some students register for college on line; on Saturdays, for 3 hours twice a month. This woman should be laid off and the high school councilors should do their job ,helping the senior high school graduating class, to register for college. Mercedes Faraj Hayward Education Association, President is paid from the general fund, until the state reimburses the district. BUT, she is paid $40,000 over what the state is giving for her pay. The tax payers and the students are being ripped off, when Faraj’s extra $40 thousand inflated income comes from the general fund and NOT the teacher’s pockets, for their union leader. No other union gets to charge the employer to pay for the union leaders. Why should our highly paid teacher not pay for their own union leader? This wasteful spending irritates me, for the district to ask anyone for more money from anyone is unreasonable. Vote no on this extra tax. Using the money for these two wasteful spending items, should be enough to pay for the special ED summer school. The district money’s should be student centered not administrative rip-offs. Parent Rhonda Leopold supports this. She wanted all the trustee’s emails, thousands of papers, for her personal use to fine things about Dobbs. Leopold wanted the district to pay for her request. She supports this tax on property owners, when she didn’t pay for her email request from the school district. I do not value anything this woman says, or supports.The school district should have had copies of the emails, in the district office, for anyone to look through. Leopold could have gone through them and took pictures on her cell phone. This would have saved money from the general fund, for better use all students, instead of appeasing a low income nosy mom. Dobbs was fired for corruption, making illegal contracts, bulling, hitting his lover, etc... Ask the school district for a copy of the investigative report on Dobbs. The teacher's union, The Afro-American Club and College Bond supported this man, even after the school board spending $70,000 on the investigation report.